Geiger's Counter: The coolest kid in junior high

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in Geiger's Counter

Friday, April 24. 2009

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Frankie Formby was the coolest kid at Wilder Junior High School.

He wore jeans and a black leather jacket over a plain white t-shirt.

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#1 Call N. Alcars on 04/24/09 at 11:30 AM

Mr. Geiger, thank you for reaching
into the "vault" and republishing your 2004 meaningful and timeless piece. It harkens back to a era when Politicall Correctness did not permeate American society in general and school systems in particular.

If Frankie Formby was currently a student in this permissive society, he would have earned a
Social Promotion to the next grade level regardless of the fact Frankie did not master prerequisite basic learning skills. Under the current acceptable school standards, students similar to Frankie are recipients of Social Promotion in order to keep that student with their "social peers".

Today's teachers are not permitted to exhibit the characteristics of your Mrs. Woodcock. My "Mrs. Woodcock" was Mrs. Browning, who saw great potential in me despite my sluggardly school performance. My retention in the 8th grade was an eye opener in which I trudged along with new "social peers" without suffering any permanant "psychological" issues. Mrs. Browning's firmly adhered to her position as life's gatekeeper by not promoting anyone unless that promotion was deserved.

By today's standards, the ACLU would file suit, the failed student would sue, the Teachers Union would intervene and the offending "Mrs. Woodcock" would be reprimanded or suspended if little "Frankie or Susie" was not promoted.

As a result of Social Promotion, there are a lot of "dumb folks" working varied employment.

Count me as being thankful my schooling was in the Stone Age. "Modern" conveniences such as the IPod, Blackberry, PC, cell phone, cable tv, CD, VCR, texting, email, digital electronics, etc. were not around when I was a teenager in the 1950's.

I shudder to think how much more successful my career would have been if I had been able to hang one of those ol' BlueTooth devices on my ear and amble along looking important!

Mr. G, what ever happened to Frankie Formby?

Call N. Alcars 10-12

#2 Mrs. G. on 04/24/09 at 03:56 PM

I hope Mrs. Woodcock had a chance to see what you grew up to become. Nothing gives a teacher more satisfaction than the success of her students. What a legacy. Thanks for honoring your teacher!

#3 Elizabeth on 04/26/09 at 12:49 PM

I like the sound of that Mrs. Woodcock! (I may be a bit partial because of her insistence on learning sentence diagramming. I have a website all about diagramming sentences.)

Isn't it interesting that she "never showed one iota of concern for [your] self esteem", but you probably got more self esteem from her class than any other?

Working hard and learning will give kids more self esteem than any self esteem enrichment program.

Thanks for your thoughts,
Elizabeth

#4 cats on 04/28/09 at 06:50 AM

I hope some teachers read this and realize that they may have made a difference to a child.
I personally have 2 teachers in mind who impacted my life.

#5 Anonymous on 04/30/09 at 09:43 AM

Please, found something more important to write about.

#5.1 cats on 05/01/09 at 03:50 PM

Well, "Anonymous", some of us happen to like a good story.
Go turn the TV back on. I'll continue to read.

#6 Anonymous on 05/06/09 at 10:55 AM

Cats, go find dog, and stop being so nosey,you put your nose, in everything, that goes on in B-ville.

#7 Sheila Tolley on 05/06/09 at 12:39 PM

The Mrs. Woodcock in my life was Miss Carol Dugger. She straightened my BUTT out! I wish she was alive today to straighten the new generation out.

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